Berman was active in the Bruin Democrats at UCLA. He began his friendship with Henry Waxman there in 1960, when both were still undergraduates. Waxman was head of the YD liberal caucus, and through it ran the YDs. Both of them supported Adlai E. Stevenson's pursuit of the presidential nomination up to the eve of the 1960 convention. Berman was president of the California Young Democrats 1967–1969. He and Waxman co-founded the Los Angeles County Young Democrats, which grew to become one of the largest young professional clubs in Southern California.[citation needed]

Berman won election to the Assembly in 1972 from a district in the Hollywood Hills, unseating the incumbent Republican Speaker pro-tempore. His brother Michael, campaign manager in Henry Waxman's 1968 Assembly race, again ran a targeted mail operation.

Berman was re-elected 14 times, never dropping below 61% of the vote, from 1984 through 2010.[17]

The 2000 census allocated California one new House seat, 53 in all. Berman, "dad of the delegation" on redistricting, made a deal with Republicans Tom Davis and David Dreier to keep 34 safe seats for Democrats, add one new Republican district, and protect 19 incumbent Republicans. Many California Democrats in the House and California State Senate hired Michael Berman, Howard Berman's brother, as a redistricting consultant, for a fee of $20,000 each.[18] When the August 2001 plan was unveiled, Congressman Brad Sherman, a fellow Democrat from California, complained that it undermined the safety of his seat with too many Hispanic voters, saying "Howard Berman stabbed me in the back."[19] Berman agreed to redraw the boundary between their districts, giving himself 56% and Sherman 37% Latino population. The redistricting plan survived a court challenge from the MALDEF, which argued that the redistricting diluted Hispanic representation.[20] The Republicans suffered some slippage; they had only 19 members in the delegation to the 110th Congress.[21]

From 2001 to 2006, Berman paid his brother Michael Berman's consulting firm Berman & D'Agostino $195,000 from campaign funds.[22] In the 2002 campaign, Berman & D'Agostino was paid $75,000 in political consulting fees. In 2005, $50,000 in consulting fees were paid to the company, and Michael Berman himself was paid a further $80,500 in campaign management and consulting fees. In 2006, $70,000 was paid in consulting fees.[23]

Following redistricting, Berman decided to run in the newly redrawn California's 30th congressional district. Sherman had the advantage because he previously represented over half of the district.[24] About 60% of voters of the new 30th district resided in Sherman's former district, while just 20% of voters resided in Berman's.[25][26]

On June 5, 2012, Sherman ranked first in the seven-candidate open primary with 42% of the vote. Berman ranked second with 26% of the vote.[31] Due to a new election system in California, which puts the two primary candidates with the highest votes—regardless of party affiliation—into general election, Berman faced fellow Democrat Brad Sherman in November.[32] Berman ran as the more conservative Democrat, hoping to divide the Democratic vote and dominate in the independent and conservative vote. However, in the November general election, Sherman defeated Berman 60.3%–39.7%.[33][34]

Berman has been described as "one of the most creative members of the House and one of the most clear-sighted operators in American politics". He has been an active legislator on several issues, but has also been described as "not one who gets much publicity".[35]

In May 2012, Berman co-sponsored a bill with Republican David Drier to reinstate tax credits given to films produced mainly in the United States. The credits were active from 2008 until 2011, and were aimed at keeping films in Hollywood. Berman stressed that we "must make every effort to keep American productions here in the United States".[40]

Berman is known for his protection of copyright interests, and his alliances with the entertainment industry; he was sometimes referred to as the "representative from Hollywood".[41] The major industry contributing to his election campaigns has been the entertainment industry.[42] He proposed legislation under which copyright holders would be able to employ technological tools such as file blocking, redirection, spoofs, and decoys—among others—to curb piracy (Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act). He has been named as one of the primary politicians involved in the creation of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).[43] In a September 2008 hearing of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Berman criticized the National Institutes of Health's policy requiring NIH-sponsored research to be submitted to a database open to the public by saying that "the N in NIH shouldn't stand for Napster".[44][45]

According to LA Weekly, "Berman played a key and under-appreciated role in securing passage of a resolution that gave President George W. Bush broad authority to use force."[46] The National Journal reports that Berman, "played a critical role in winning passage by a wide margin of the Iraq War resolution in October 2002. He strongly supported military action against Iraq, and in September he organized a group of Democrats who shared his views. Berman's discussions led to LeaderGephardt's agreement with the administration on the terms of the resolution—talks that undercut the demands of other senior Democrats, including then WhipPelosi and ChairmanBiden. In June 2006, Berman voted for the Republican resolution to reject a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq."[35]

In 2003, Berman expressed his concerns over the Patriot Act with then US Attorney General John Ashcroft, specifically on the method to hold illegal immigrants until they prove they are not terrorists.[48]

In 2000, Berman along with then-US Senator from Oregon, Gordon Smith, proposed an amnesty, which would have granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented farm laborers. In exchange, requirements that growers provide housing to guest workers, and pay them a minimum wage adjusted annually for inflation, would have been relaxed.[49] In 2005, Berman was part of the bi-partisan group in Congress that fought for immigration reform efforts.[50] That path to citizenship was also supported by President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain.

Center for Public Integrity reported in 2006 that members of the House Ethics Committee and their staffs had taken many privately sponsored trips, about 400 trips from 2000 to mid-2005, at a total expense nearly $1 million. Of these, Democrats took about 80% of the trips at about 70% of the cost. Berman and his staff were at the top of the chart, with trips costing more than $245,000. Berman himself had taken 14 trips at the Aspen Institute's expense, including two to China with Mrs. Berman. Aspen replied that its events for members were like graduate seminars, and did not push any policy agenda. "Gene Smith, Berman's chief of staff, said that the bulk of the congressman's foreign travel can be attributed to his being a senior member on the House Committee on International Relations." Five private groups (Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG) jointly sent a letter to the ethics committee urging it to ban or restrict such travel.[57][58]

^Isoardi, Steven L. (1994, 1995). "Oral History Interview with Tom Bane"(PDF). State Government Oral History Program. California State Archives. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 11, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-18. On top of that, Michael Berman was after votes. He figured if he'd knock off Jack Fenton, another vote for Howard.... He did it to Jack Fenton, he'd do it to them.Check date values in: |date= (help)

^Abid, Aslam (2008-04-07). "FINANCE: U.S. Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars". Inter Press Service International Association (Rome, Italy). Archived from the original on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-18. Other panel chiefs who invested in defence firms include Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who presides over the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In all, 151 current members of Congress – more than one-fourth of the total – have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defense contracts of at least $5.0 million, according to CRP.

^"2000 Farmworker Justice Award Presented to Rep. Howard Berman"(PDF). Farmworker Justice News, Summer 2000. Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. 2000-07-18. p. 4. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 29, 2006. Retrieved 2008-01-16. The Board of Directors of the Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. presented the 2000 Farmworker Justice Award to Rep. Howard Berman of California. The presentation was made by Dolores Huerta, Secretary-Treasurer of the United Farm Workers, a long time friend of Howard Berman. The award reception was held at the Mott House in Washington, D.C. during the evening of May 24, 2000.